AMSAT NEWS SERVICE ANS-361

ANS is a free, weekly, news and information service of AMSAT North America, The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation. ANS reports on the activities of a worldwide group of Amateur Radio operators who share an active interest in designing, building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites.

Please send any amateur satellite news or reports to:

ans-editor@amsat.org

In this edition: * Report Your AMSAT Volunteer Hours * SO-67 schedule * SKN on OSCAR 2010 * AMSAT Kid's Day on AO-51 on 3 January *Thank You and Season Greetings on Behalf of the HO-68 Team * AO-51 Satellite Grid DXpedition Announced * ARISS Status - 21 December 2009

SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-361.01 Report Your AMSAT Volunteer Hours

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 361.01 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. December 27, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-361.01

Attention AMSAT Volunteers!

It is that time again when we gather volunteer hours donated to the AMSAT Program of Work to include within our yearly Audit. These important donations of personal time help us illustrate to the outside world the involvement of our members. We welcome reporting in all areas of service from Managing a booth at a Hamfest, to engineering of new AMSAT projects, to day to day operational activities.

If you are not already signed up for the on line Web site "VRS" (Volunteer Reporting System) program, please go to amsat.org and select "Become a Volunteer" from the link on the left side of the main page. Select #2 in order to create an account for your reporting. You will be given a confidential account into which you can report your volunteer hours. Select # 3 to actually report your 2009 efforts.

We total up the efforts and total value while we keep confidential the actual dollar amount of each volunteer.

With the year drawing to a close, this is a great time to submit those hours. After January 1, 2010 we'll download the file and report these numbers to our Auditor.

Your efforts are important, so please take the time to report. If you have any questions feel free to email me at: w8gsm@amsat.org.

Gunther Meisse AMSAT Treasurer W8GSM

[ANS thanks Gunther, W8GSM, for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-361.02 SO-67 schedule

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 361.02 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. December 27, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-361.02

Jan-Albert Koekemoer, ZR1JAK, received the following schedules from the various coordinators. Note that some passes had to be omitted due to other higher priorities on the satellite.

SOUTH AMERICA: 27/12 01:18 27/12 11:48 27/12 13:25 27/12 23:25 28/12 00:58 28/12 11:28 28/12 13:02 28/12 23:05 29/12 00:35 29/12 11:08 29/12 12:41 30/12 00:16 30/12 01:50 30/12 10:48 30/12 12:20 30/12 23:56 31/12 01:30 31/12 10:29 31/12 11:59 31/12 23:36 01/01 01:10 01/01 11:38 01/01 13:14 01/01 23:16

AUSTRALIA/NZ: 27/12 21:19 28/12 00:28 28/12 20:57 28/12 22:31 29/12 00:07 29/12 20:37 29/12 22:09 29/12 23:46 30/12 21:51 30/12 23:24 30/12 21:30 30/12 23:05 01/01 00:40

USSR: 27/12 14:20 27/12 19:00

AFRICA: 27/12 05:30 28/12 08:16 29/12 07:58 30/12 06:03 30/12 07:38 31/12 05:42 31/12 07:17 01/01 05:20 01/01 06:57 01/01 08:26

JAPAN 27/12 00:30 27/12 22:37 28/12 00:09 (Deleted) 28/12 23:48 29/12 01:24 29/12 23:28 30/12 01:03 30/12 23:08 31/12 00:42 31/12 22:48 01/01 00:21

EUROPE 27/12 06:47 27/12 08:20 27/12 09:54 27/12 11:28 28/12 09:33 29/12 09:12

USA/CANADA 27/12 00:22 (Deleted) 27/12 13:08 27/12 14:43 27/12 16:16 27/12 17:49 27/12 19:21 27/12 20:54 27/12 22:28 (Deleted) 28/12 00:02

[ANS thanks Jan-Albert, ZR1JAK, for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-361.03 SKN on OSCAR 2010

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 361.03 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. December 27, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-361.03

All radio amateurs, worldwide, are cordially invited to participate in AMSAT's Straight Key Night on OSCAR 2010.

Participating in SKN on OSCAR 2010 is easy. No rules, no scoring and no need to send in a log. Just operate CW through any OSCAR between 0000 and 2400 UTC on 1 January 2010, using a straight hand key.

The AMSAT AO-51 Operations Group reminds everyone that AO-51 will be configured to support CW operations during the annual Straight Key Night event. Participants may operate CW through AO-51 between 0000 and 2400 UTC on 1 January 2010, using a straight hand key.

AO-51 will be configured in the following mode during the event: SSB/FM Repeater, V/U (CW QSOs only on Straight Key Night) Uplink: 145.880 MHz USB Downlink: 435.150 MHz FM

In keeping with the friendly nature of this event, all participants are encouraged to nominate someone they worked for "Best Fist." Your nominee need not have the best fist of those you heard, just of those you worked. Please send your nomination to w2rs@amsat.org. A list of those nominated will appear in ANS and The AMSAT Journal.

[ANS thanks Ray, W2RS, and the AMSAT AO-51 Operations Group for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-361.04 AMSAT Kid's Day on AO-51 on 3 January

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 361.04 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. December 27, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-361.04

AMSAT-NA and the AO-51 Operations Group will sponsor Kid's Day on AO-51 on January 3, 2010. The event is open to all kids, worldwide.

We ask all amateur radio stations to give this short time window to promote satellite operations with kids, by actually showing a kid how to make contacts via AO-51, providing a station to contact, or stepping aside to allow others to make contacts with the kids. During the event, please limit contacts to stations that are operating with kids at the microphone. This should allow the kids to have a nice QSO and pass some information. Kids can tell their name, age, who is helping them operate on AO-51, where they live, and other information about themselves.

AO-51 will be configured in the following mode during the event. Uplink: 145.880 MHz FM voice Downlink: 435.300 MHz FM voice

See http://www.arrl.org/FandES/ead/kd-rules.html on the ARRL website for more Kids Day information.

Have fun and enjoy AO-51!

[ANS thanks the AO-51 Operations Committee for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-361.05 Thank You and Season Greetings on Behalf of the HO-68 Team

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 361.05 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. December 27, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-361.05

CEO of Amsat-China and HO-68 (XW-1) Project Manager Alan Kung, BA1DU wrote, "On behalf of Amsat-China and the HO-68 amateur satellite pro- ject Team, I would like to express my sincere thanks to all radio amateurs who reported the communications status of HO-68 satellite in the past few days."

Alan continued, "I would also like to express my sincere thanks to all individuals and organizations for your congratulations. I must say I am sorry I am not able to respond to each of the reports, but your reports are very valuable for our analysis of status of the satellite. Thank you very much for your participation in the in-orbit satellite communications test of HO-68."

The HO-68 team wishes all a happy holiday and we hope HO-68 amateur satellite will be able to bring you a new fun!

This week AMSAT-NA President, Barry Baines, WD4ASW wrote, "On behalf of Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, congratulations on the success- ful launch of XW-1 and its subsequent designation as HO-68. This is a significant milestone for both Amateur Radio and AMSAT-China. We are very excited to see not only a new amateur satellite successfully placed in service, but a new member of the AMSAT International family establishing itself as well. Please let us know more about your organ- ization and how we might be able to develop appropriate relationships between AMSAT-China and other AMSAT organizations. Again, congratula- tions on placing HO-68 in service and best wishes for the New Year."

The latest official information can be found on-line on the AMSAT-China web page at http://www.camsat.cn/

The AMSAT-NA Satellite Status Web may also be consulted for frequency and operating mode information: http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/satellites/satInfo.php?satID=116&retURL=/ satellites/status.php

[ANS thanks Alan Kung, BA1DU and Barry Baines, WD4ASW for the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-361.06 AO-51 Satellite Grid DXpedition Announced

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 361.06 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. December 27, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-361.06

Jim, ND9M/VQ9JC, plans to activate 85 grids in 8 states on AO-51 between January 21st and February 10th. Jim and his wife will be driving to the Denver area (DN70) where his step-son lives and Cheyenne (DN71) where his brother lives. The trip will start from Panama City, Florida, on/or around January 21st, from where they head to Memphis, TN. Jim may possibly activate some grids. From Memphis they will head westbound through OK, then into KS and NE before hitting CO. Their around trip will take them through Big Bend National Park and Texas (hitting every grid in TX) and the Gulf Coast into Louisiana.

[ANS thanks KB8NW, OPDX Bulletin, and MakeMoreMilesOnVHF Newsletter For the above information]

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SB SAT @ AMSAT $ANS-361.07 ARISS Status - 21 December 2009

AMSAT News Service Bulletin 361.07 From AMSAT HQ SILVER SPRING, MD. December 27, 2009 To All RADIO AMATEURS BID: $ANS-361.07

1. Jeffrey Williams Chats with Italian Students via ARISS Contact

On Monday, December 14, Expedition 21 astronaut Jeffrey Williams, KD5TVQ participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with students from Istituto Comprensivo di Govone - Scuola Secondaria di primo grado "Nino Costa" di Priocca in Priocca, Cuneo, Italy. The contact was held at Infinito Astronomic Park in Pino Torinese, Torino, where an audience of more than 150 students, teachers, visitors and media watched as the students posed 22 questions to the astronaut during the nine minute pass. Following the contact, ARISS mentor Francesco De Paolis spoke to the children via teleconference about the contact and amateur radio. Regional television, local media and newspapers covered the event. The video, which was streamed on the web, received over 170 connections. The European Space Agency (ESA) reported the news on its Web site. See: http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMLSV9K73G_Italy_0.html

2. ARISS International Team Meeting Held

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) meeting was held on Tuesday, December 15. Agenda items addressed included the VHF AIS (Automatic Identification System) and ARISS antennas which were recently installed on the Columbus module and the status of ARISSat-1. To view the minutes, see: https://www.rac.ca/ariss/arisstel2009-12-15.htm

[ANS thanks Carol, KB3LKI, for the above information]

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In addition to regular membership, AMSAT offers membership in the President's Club. Members of the President's Club, as sustaining donors to AMSAT Project Funds, will be eligible to receive additional benefits. Application forms are available from the AMSAT Office.

73, This week's ANS Editor, Lee McLamb, KU4OS ku4os at amsat dot org